Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Having Vision and Being "Not Stupid": The Mental Process

To see past your space of clutter and have visions of beauty takes talent, indeed, but I think - above all - it takes patience.

I would love for my work desk/creative spot/mini escape to always look as simple as this:

Not only is this unrealistic due the limited amount of space in our home and on my desk, it is unrealistic due to the great restrictions of fact -- facts like: oh, it's not in the budget. Alright, cork board might be in our budget (in a good month), but my clunky laptop from the ancient days of 2006 is simply not as pleasing to the eye as a silver macbook.

Let's pause and realize what a stupid barrier that is -- to see something you would like to accomplish and have such a limited brain, that something as petty as the laptop pictured is enough to keep from moving forward. Let's take note of some other excuses I might have:
- I can't buy new, smaller things, so why even try
- My desk can never look just like that
- I don't have time
- When would I have time to sit down and use the desk, even if I got it looking the way I want
- ____________ (fill in stupid thought)

"Stupid" is the theme here. "Lack of vision," "loss of motivation," and "incredibly impatient" are nice ways of putting my feelings and thought process, but when it comes down to it, I'm just being a stupid idiot.

Some people find self-loathing thoughts drag them down. In my case, self-loathing thoughts are a grand opportunity to be realistic and simplify things. With that, I'd like to end my ramblings on creativity and changing the space around you, by avoiding such sentences as the following...

"Julie, you can do this. Have patience, it's not that hard. If you can't start with your messy desk, start with a small drawer in the house and get rid of some clutter, then see how you feel about the desk."

I think it's possible to curate a space you love on a small budget. It does take time and patience... Some people are fortunate enough to redo an area of their home all at once and others have to spend time sorting through the thrift stores and target "end caps" to get the right pieces, but to me the latter is much more personal (and preferable). Don't start with the drawer... Start with an area of your home that will brighten your day every time you walk by :)